ABBA / “Ring Ring” 40th anniversary deluxe edition coming soon

ABBA‘s 1973 debut album, Ring Ring, will be issued as a CD+DVD deluxe edition on 14 October 2013.

The original album comes with 13 bonus tracks, four of which are new to CD, while the DVD will feature some rare TV performances and the now familiar ‘International Sleeve Gallery’.

Amongst the bonus cuts are the rare original versions of the album tracks I Saw It In The Mirror and I Am Just A Girl; the 1970 recording There’s A Little Man, featuring Agnetha on backing vocals (her first contribution to a recording written and produced by Björn and Benny); Man vill ju leva lite dessemellan, a 1972 hit single for Frida featuring backing vocals by her fellow ABBA members; and En hälsning till våra parkarrangörer, a spoken-word promotion single from 1972 on which the four ABBA members talk up their 1973 tour of Sweden.

Although the DVD looks a little thin on content, in addition to the archive footage, it features a 2012 report from Swedish television where Benny tells the story of the writing and recording of Ring Ring, and he goes in-depth on the group’s creative process, isolating the different tracks on the original multi-track tape. That sounds interesting.

The package also includes a 20-page illustrated booklet featuring an extensive essay on the making of the album.

I just received my copy of the Ring Ring deluxe edition, and I’m quite happy with the end result. I have the book “The Complete Recording Sessions” by Carl Magnus Palm (Best ABBA author ever!), and I did find some of these uniqe recordings in this book…for example one of the tracks was actually released on Benny and Bjorn’s debut cd with Agnetha and Frida doing early vocals….

Now…I’m thinking (and wishing and hoping) that since this release was a 40th anniversary edition, then it’s very possible that Waterloo will get the same treatment next year, and since this particular album jettisoned ABBA into the media masses, that there could be a very special Deluxe Edition done for this particular recording….which would be an absolute flawless project!!!

I am personally looking forward to this release, as I have collected all the previous deluxe editions…which brings me to one curious question and hope…will there be a Deluxe Edition of Waterloo, and will it be released on the 40th anniversary of ABBA winning the Eurovision contest?

David: I don’t think so. There’s a 30th Anniversary Edition released on 2004, with a making-off essay and additional DVD. There’s not much to add to it, so a revamped edition is quite unlikely to happen. I’d suggest a Deluxe Edition of “Gracias por la música” (the Spanish album) in order to replace “Oro” and its boring front cover. The DVD could include some bizarre performances/interviews that ABBA made for Spanish and Argentine TV between ’78 and ’82. Most of them are in Youtube, but having them on an official release (with perfect picture quality) would be a real treasure!

I maybe very alone in this comment-
I was completely delighted with tracks 20-25 on the Deluxe Edition of Ring ring, I had never heard three of the tracks before but was aware that there was some 7″ singles of these singles around.
The 6 tracks, are the perfect example of how Abba as a band came together and started to work in the studio as four indiviuals.
This band were always a ‘collaboration of 4 music artists’ from day 1, and now they have made pop history it is hard for non-swedish market to understand.
For me the bonus tracks make historical sense. + like them alot

Well I’m happy that it’s getting remastered, if it’s done with the class of the last two (and I suspect it will) it will be a welcome addition to the collection. I’m quite happy about the bonus tracks, and I hope the Ring Ring making of on the DVD is good.

I have no words about this “DELUXE EDITION”.
They put songs on the forthcoming ABBA CD with other vocalists ?
I will hear ABBA and no others on an ABBA CD.
What a shame!! Each previous DELUXE version of the ABBA albums were a disaster. Only one unreleased “track” were released in 7
new album editions. And that was a “demo-medley” on
“The Visitors” – mixed together lovelessly.
Until today I have collect many original demos from different sources,
to have at least a short line from “In the Arms Of Rosalita” ( Demo of “Chiquitita” )
or the instrumental version of “When All is Said And Done”….
Where is the originally in Miami mixed version of “If It Wasn’t For The Nights” ? Not to mention about the 4 beautiful versions of “Just Like That” and the much ( and so different ) unreleased versions of “Summer Night City”.
Why no release of backing tracks or instrumental versions of ABBA
songs on I-tunes ? What is the problem with that ?
The same boring stuff every year in a new packing.
Each new ABBA DELUXE & Anniversary Edition makes me angry and sad. Sorry, but ABBA are dead for me without something new
from the endless vaults of Polar Music.

Do you get “angry and sad” just because the re-release of an old album doesn’t meet your expectations? You should need to get a life, then. They don’t include any other ‘previously unreleased’ material because Björn & Benny wouldn’t grant permission to do that. They own their own work an they can do whatever they want with it. Is it that hard to understand? Also, some of the works you’ve mentioned are half-finished demos with poor sound that don’t meet the quality standards of the ABBA albums. I don’t want to have a pile of Summer Night City alternative takes (with very slight differences) crammed onto a CD. That’s boring, and it was part of the producion proccess – hence, not supposed to be published or released. So, I can live without it. The Deluxe Series is a disaster for people like you: fans who are very hard to please and want everything (and even more) to feel satisfied.

Getting back to the tracklist, I find it quite odd. Tracks 21-25 look out of place. Man vill ju leva lite dessemellan is a cover of an Italian song titled Chi salta il fosso. It has nothing to do with ABBA! Well, it was recorded by Frida as a non-album single, and that’s all. It has been included as a bonus track on the remastered release of Frida’s “Ensam” (2005).